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<p class=MsoPlainText>Dear all,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>Paul Anderson's idea on advising people to cook outside
made me think about something that happened lately. My experience is still short
in the country, but I think it may be representative of the problems stove
projects can be confronted.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>We built and sold an institutional rocket stove for an
hospital three months ago. When we first met them, the kitchen staff was
complaining about the smoke, and to a lesser extent about the wood consumption.
Now they have the rocket stove which make very few smoke and saves a lot of
wood. They said they liked it, and I believe they do.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>But several times we visited them, and we noticed they
weren't using it that much. The reason was that they are supplied big pieces of
wood, and they had to cut them prior to using them in the rocket stove. The feed
chamber opening is a 20 X 20 cm square. With stoves, it is often necessary to make
this opening rather small, to limitate excess air entry. So the staff kept
using smoky stoves, with their huge feed chamber opening.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>The men among the staff want the women to cut the wood, it
is traditionally a women's task I think, but women say they are not paid for
that and they have enough work. The head of the kitchen staff asked their
supplier to cut the wood, but I am not sure they reached an agreement. The
hospital could pay a lumberjack, but it needs to go through administrative
procedures. For info, one water tap has been leaking there for years according
to my associate. It still is and no one never cared to find a plumber. The "not
my job" syndrome. Let's hope it won't be the case for the wood issue, we'll
see how all this evolves.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>People lacks proactivity, and this greatly hinder
progress. This story shows how just a simple obstacle could destroy a whole building.
Someone said "a lot of efforts can be lost because one last effort hasn't
been done". Just because no one wants to cut wood means they keep using
unhealthy stoves. In Benin, people are careless with security. They drive bikes
without hats, men drive when they are so drunk they can barely stand, they can
eat food which has been under the sun for hours, store oil barrels close to
house dwellings, etc. They are used to take risks. I think even if you tell
people smoke is very bad for health, if it is too uncomfortable to cook
differently, they'll keep on cooking how they use to. Here: breathing unhealthy
smoke is preferable to cut wood.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>We could also say the small hole for the feed chamber is
responsible for all that, so wood-efficient stoves with large feed chambers, if
they exist would be more appropriate.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>In another hospital, they were supplied smaller wood
logs, so there werent any problems.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>We already concluded the product has to be perfect.
Nothing should be left to the customer. Everything should be taken care of in
the design of the product. We reached the same conclusion when working with
solar : only an on/off switch should be left to the user. The good old Keep It
Simple Stupid principle. Unfortunaly, stove technology is an ungrateful
technology. Some design principles have to be respected. The user has to make a
few efforts after the stove is delivered. This is the part the stove producer
has no control upon, and it puts the project at risk.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>I want to know if some of you may have experienced the
same thing. What were the barriers? Maybe they were cultural? How can we best
prevent them? How can we make people listen to our advises, in fact apply them?
Can we make stoves so simple the user would have nothing to do?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>Regards,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>Xavier<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
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